


blodam

by DreamyRequiem



Series: Blodam [1]
Category: Tales of Xillia
Genre: Cross-Posted on Tumblr, Established Relationship, Gen, M/M, blood warning ofc, dunno if i'll write anymore in this unless op want more, vampire&vampire hunter au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-28
Updated: 2016-09-28
Packaged: 2018-08-18 08:54:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,195
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8156395
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DreamyRequiem/pseuds/DreamyRequiem
Summary: blood (n.)Old English blod, from Proto-Germanic blodamrom PIE *bhlo-to-, perhaps meaning "to swell, gush, spurt," or "that which bursts out" (compare Gothic bloþ "blood," bloma "flower"), in which case it would be from suffixed form of bhle-, extended form of root bhel- (3) "to thrive, bloom"





	

**Author's Note:**

> beta`d by my friend Laura <3 thank you so much for helping me out~  
> Notes about this verse are at the end.

Sunlight leaked through the window as Ludger yawned. He sat up, rubbing his eyes with his free hand. A cold draft snaked around his bare arms and he grimaced. Ah, it was already heading into that time of the year, hm? That meant he'd better start setting the thermostat to a warmer setting. He shook his head and pulled himself out of bed, carefully extracting his arm from Jude's grip. It was time to get ready for the day.

There was another hunt after all.

Rolling his shoulders, Ludger flicked open his closet to search through his outfits for his uniform. Ah such a hassle, he thought, as he tugged off his pajama shirt. Behind him her could hear some muttered shuffling and Ludger paused. Oh, right, the blinds. The light would wake Jude up, wouldn't it?

Ludger turned to the blinds and snapped them shut. As if response, Jude jolted awake. "Ugh...Ludger?" The younger man dug the heel of his palm into his eyes, clearly unhappy with being awakened so early. Ludger would apologize but Jude did need to wake up.

"It's morning, mister night owl." Ludger joked, quirking a smile at Jude. The younger man rolled his eyes as he followed Ludger out of bed. He couldn't help but laugh as Jude stumbled, still half asleep. "You really need to get more sleep, Jude. One of these days you're going to get yourself into trouble."

Jude snorted in reply before giving Ludger a worried look, as if he'd just realized what Ludger was wearing. He knew that Jude didn't like it when he went out to hunts: There was always the risk that Ludger would die and that...scared Jude.

If Ludger was honest, it kind of scared him too. More because he didn't want to leave anyone behind.

He turned away, tugging his uniform snugly against him. A couple of buttons weren't fitting quite right...Just as he was about to fix them a pair of wiry arms wrapped around his chest. "Do you have to go today?" Jude whispered in his ear, sounding tired.

Gently pulling himself free, Ludger turned to smile at Jude. "Yeah. You know how it is, with me being on of the best hunters in Spirius...it means I'm high in demand." Jude rolled his eyes at the teasing tone. Ah, so there was some energy there!

Ludger grinned and picked Jude up, causing the younger man to squawk. "What're you doing?! Ludger!" Jude cried, wiggling in Ludger's arms.

"Waking you up, you night owl nerd," Ludger said, grinning widely, "Come on, I'll make breakfast before I head to work."

With that, he carried Jude with him into the kitchen all while Jude muttered about how he could wake by himself. Ludger steered clear of the curtains, fully expecting Jude to try and use those as a weapon against him.

Once he made it to the kitchen he set his frustrated fiancée back on the ground. Ludger stole a quick kiss from Jude before he turned to the stove. It wouldn't take too long to make a couple omelets, but he needed to heat the stove top up.

As he prepared breakfast, Ludger heard Jude settle at the table behind him. Ludger smiled to himself as he finished with the tomato omelets and placed them on the table alongside glasses of tomato juice. "You ready, Jude?"

Jude nodded with a yawn as he dug into his breakfast. He didn't say a word as he ate and Ludger followed his example. The silence was comfortable and it was the usual for mornings such as these. Once they were finished, Ludger made to pick the dishes up but stopped when Jude raised a hand.

"Let me clean up," Jude said, "You'll be late for work if you stay to clean up." Ludger feigned offensive to this and clutched his chest. Jude lightly bumped his fist against Ludger's shoulder before gathering the dishes.

Ludger took a few steps towards the door before turning back to Jude's side. The young man looked up, surprised that Ludger hadn't left. "Goodbye kiss?" Ludger joked with a smile, placing one of his hands on Jude's cheek.

The younger man's cheeks tinted somewhat but he leaned up towards Ludger with a small 'okay'. Ludger grinned before leaning in.

It probably sounded silly, but Ludger always got a rush from kissing Jude. He couldn't explain why: Just that it made feel like he could do anything, so long as he could return to Jude's side. Which was just another reason for Ludger to keep fighting among the other hunters in Spirius.

He let out a laugh as he bumped his nose against Jude's. His fiancée just smiled at him and gave him a quick peck on the cheek. "Have a good hunt today."

"I will." Ludger replied before he headed out for the day. As soon as he stepped out, one of his neighbors, Miss Kitty, waved at him with her free hand, the other cradling one of her cats. As usual, the cat gave a quiet hiss at him and Miss Kitty scolded the cat.

Ludger waved her off before he headed into and down the elevator. The Landlord have him a stern look and pulled him aside to talk about rent: Great, just great. It seemed like Ludger would have to pay extra for adding those new blackout blinds to his apartment. Jeez, he paid for those to begin with, why did he have to pat extra rent for that?

Once he freed himself from his landlord, Ludger made his way to the meeting place with his brother and Rideaux. The two were his partners for this hunt which told Ludger just how dangerous they believed this vampire to be. They only ever sent a group of the best of the best when their target was among the elite.

The hunter wondered who it was.

* * *

The wind from the ocean made the hair on his arms stand on end. Julius stood near the closest docks, his GHS out as he spoke to some informant or another. Somewhere nearby, Rideaux was charming a couple of girls while Ludger himself kept an eye out for anyone suspicious.

Lots of vampires were lethargic when hit by light from the sun. The old stories said that Ancients would burn in the sun--he supposed that would be rather obvious for people in public. After all, if someone just started burning, you'd be sure to know something was wrong.

They'd been searching for hours, Ludger thought clicking his tongue as he stared at the clouds. Ah, that one looks like Rollo...oh, and that one looks like that one girl's doll....wait, that girl...?

His gaze snapped down to the girl, whom was tiredly walking along, the sun beating down on her. He narrowed his eyes at the girl: It can't be...was she the target? She was just a child, vampire or no. Could she be that dangerous? With that thought, he slipped closer to Julius, poking his arm to get his attention. Once he had it, he jerked his chin to the girl.

Dangerous, he tried to say without speaking. Lethargic, and...it seemed she had a bodyguard, who was almost as lethargic as the girl was. Ludger narrowed his eyes on the newcomer, a man with brunet slicked back hair. He was oddly familiar to Ludger, and not in a good way.

Julius slipped past him, plastering a smile on his face. "Don't do anything too crazy yet, Ludger." Julius muttered, one hand drifting over his blades. Ludger nodded. He stepped back to lean on nearby railings, rather casually sending Rideaux a message about Julius and the girl.

As Rideaux flipped open his GHS, Ludger spotted Julius speaking with the man and girl. The latter seemed nervous while the former was clearly trying to be charming. It wasn't working quite well, due to his slow reactions--Were they truly their targets? Judging by how his brother was fingering his blades, Ludger was inclined to say yes.

If he hadn't been watching, Ludger was sure he would've missed how the fight began: All of a sudden, the man rather whipped out a gun, his eyes gleaming as he snarled something. Even as he did this, he was tossing the young girl away and she disappeared into the crowds. Ludger spotted Rideaux disappear after her while Julius brandished his own blades, yelling something.

Oh.

Oh!

He was calling for Ludger! Ludger swept forward, jerking his own blades out of their sheathes. "What happened?" Ludger hissed at Julius. "Why did he attack you?"

"It's not as if people don't know what our jobs are," Julius said calmly as he blocked gunshots, "He recognized the uniform and then realized we suspected them. It seemed his goal was to keep the girl out of our hands however." It was rather hard to hear him over the yelling and screaming of the bystanders.

Ludger frowned as he kicked out, trying to catch the man off guard. "Is that so..."

A laugh echoed from the man as he shot at Ludger's legs. "You shouldn't ignore me, you know! I'm not exactly the nicest guy around."

Julius snapped forward and his blades clanged against the man's sword. The man said something mockingly to Julius, which only caused his brother to twitch. Ludger pursed his lips, trying to think--he definitely knew this man from somewhere. In fact, wherever Ludger knew him from, made Ludger angry.

And he wasn't sure why. There were very few things that made him that angry, after all.

The man laughed again and it was beginning to take an edge of insanity as he and Julius traded blows. Ludger almost felt like he was just in the way and not being of any help to his brother whatsoever.

Unfortunately, it seemed that the man was going to take advantage of that after all as he grabbed Ludger's collar and tossed him straight towards Julius. He hear Julius curse as he caught him and rolled with the impact. The man laughed. "Sorry, kids, I'll play with you more later!"

Ludger hissed an apology before forcing himself to his feet and raced after the man. Julius called after him, to wait, but Ludger couldn't. If he could stop the man here and now...then perhaps his brother could catch up.

He stumbled as the older man almost took his head off with a gun shot. "Stop!" Ludger yelled at the man's back. "Stop, in the name of theuGH!" A scream tore past his lips as a gun shot ripped through his leg. Spirits damn it all to hell...!

The man spun and laughed, "Sorry kid, I've got places to be and....Hey." Ludger glared at the man as he stumbled to his feet. "I know you...Where have I see you before?"

"Your death bed." Ludger spat. He really needed to clear his head. The man signed, unamused, before he shot Ludger's other leg out from under him A snarl slipped out as the man stepped away.

He shook his head. "Seriously, kid, you shouldn't have messed with me or my charge." The man looked up and Ludger heard his brother yelling his name. "Well, gotta go kid. Can't get caught--Oh, and can you give that guy my regards?"

That grin...

_("Ludger, I'm sorry...")_

Ludger felt a flower of fury bloom in his chest. "You stay away from him! If you even think about touching him again, I'll kill you!"

The man laughed again before he vanished into the alleyways. Ludger snarled and struggled to stand as Julius tore into the alleyway, his expression grim. Julius knelt down next to him, one hand on his leg as he murmured something soft.

If Julius as trying to be comforting him or to distract him from the pain, it wasn't working. Rather, there was only one thing that Ludger could concentrate on: The death of that man.

* * *

His limp home was...painful. Ludger hadn't stayed long enough for the medics to fully heal the gunshot wounds: So long as they got the bullets out and healed the worst of the damage, Ludger could handle it. Right now he had bigger fish to fry.

The apartment building seemed as peaceful as ever. Even from here, Ludger could see the blackout blinds of his apartment. Jude...Ludger limped into the apartment building. His Landlord appeared from his office, clearly intending to interrogate him again but stopped when he saw Ludger limping.

The older man offered to help Ludger back up to his apartment but Ludger shook his head. He'd be fine, he just needed to get to the elevator. Ignoring the protests of his landlord Ludger limped the rest of the way to the elevator. As he leaned on one of the walls, he mused that it would be a lot worse if he'd just crawled home with his gun shots wounds.

Not that he'd ever subject Jude to that...He didn't want to think about what would happen if Jude saw all that blood.

Ludger stumbled to his apartment door and fiddled with his GHS until he swiped it across the lock pad. The door slid open and Ludger dropped to the floor just inside. He heard the door slip shut behind him but he focused on looking for Jude. It took him a moment--but he spotted Jude's messy black hair lulling at their couch.

He let out a deep sigh of relief. Jude was okay. For a moment, he'd been scared that...

Forcing himself to his feet, Ludger limped to the couch and sat heavily next to his fiancee. Jude leaned on him in response though Ludger could tell Jude was fast asleep. Ludger gently ran a hand along the crook of Jude's neck, a faint shiver running down his spine at the chill from Jude's skin.

There should be something to help get rid of these puncture scars, Ludger thought. He could keep them hidden, even from Jude himself, but who knew when someone would start a search for unregistered vampires.

_"Ludger, I'm sorry..."_

He shuddered.

_His hands were painted crimson from Jude's blood. A figure with slicked back hair vanished into the shadows of the alleyways, no doubt taking advantage of the city's extensive network of them. Ludger didn't care about that at the moment._

_All he cared about was keeping Jude awake and alive._

_"Don't be sorry!" Ludger hissed out, one of his hands clasped over Jude's neck. "You just...Keep talking, okay? I need to hear your voice." What he actually needed was for Jude to stay awake but the only way to ensure that was to make him keep talking. To concentrate on talking._

_Jude laughed wetly, blood bubbling up. "I don't know...how long I can...do that..."_

_His eyes stung, Ludger thought. They burned and tears dribbled down his face. "You have to," Ludger said, his voice desperate and scared. **Please don't leave me.**_

_He felt Jude give his wrist a light squeeze. "Ludger...either two things...will happen....either I'll die or..." Jude coughed, and blood splattered Ludger's face. "I'll...turn...I need you to...if I do...turn...to make sure....register..."_

_Ludger laughed shakily. "Don't be silly! Neither is going to happen, okay?! We're going to be fine, you're going to be fine!" Denial choked him up: He can't let either happen. He can't._

_"I'm...trusting you...Ludger...please..."_

_Jude's voice was fading. So was the breath in his chest and the light in his eyes. Jude was fading and Ludger choked. This can't be happening, not to them. Why the hell was this happening to them? If this was because Ludger was a hunter, why could they make him die?_

_Why Jude?_

\--Ludger jolted as Jude slid off his shoulder and onto his lap. A-ah, he really shouldn't lose himself to the past. Those things had already happened: As much as Ludger would like to, he couldn't change those events. If he could, he would've shot that bastard between the eyes the moment he saw him in that bar in Duval, instead of letting Jude talk to him.

Sighing, Ludger extracted himself from under Jude. He'd wake up soon, judging by the time on the clock, so Ludger should prepare something for him. Jude would be going to work at the research center after all.

He went to the kitchen and started going through the fridge. Spotting the tomato juice carton for jude, Ludger pulled it out and unscrewed the cap. Sniffing it he wrinkled his nose. Ah, there wasn't enough in it was there? Ludger sighed and put it ont he counter. Grabbing a knife, he slit open his hand and squeezed it until the blood leaked into the tomato juice.

Jude stirred behind him and Ludger cringed, quickly putting the knife under the water on the sink and put the carton on the table. Time to mime cleaning his cut in the sink--

"--Ludger?" Jude yawned as he pushed himself up. "You're already home?"

Ludger couldn't help but let a laugh slip out. "You're acting like it's early. In a couple hours you're going to work yourself, aren't you?"

His fiancée walked over, rubbing his eyes. "Balan called earlier and gave me the night off. Now, how did the Hunt go?"

He grimaced and Jude sighed. Ludger forced a smile quickly, not wanting Jude to fear the worse. "Our targets were unregistered vampires. We didn't catch our targets: They were more dangerous than our informants said. The older of the two got the other into the crowds before the fight broke out." Ludger scowled. "I got hurt in the crossfire and the older got away."

Jude lightly patted his arm. He already seemed to be more awake, Ludger thought, as the younger man poured a drink from the tomato juice carton. Before he drunk from it, however, he spotted Ludger's hand.

With one hand grabbing Ludger's wrist, Jude said, "What happened?! You're hurt!"

"A-ah...I caught the guy's blade with my hand at one point," Ludger said, "It's his gun that really hurt me, though."

There was a squawk of 'gun?!' and Jude started inspecting all his wounds. As he went he started patching him and Ludger quirked a smile. This was one of the reasons why he hadn't bothered to wait for the medics to finish: Jude was far better than them and he trusted Jude with his life.

A life he would dedicate to trying to cure Jude. There had to be some way, besides the old stories. Those old stories where if you killed the Ancient responsible for turning someone, that someone would return to being a human.

Ludger didn't know if those stories were true, but it was worth a shot. Between the research that Spirius was doing and Ludger's own personal hunt of the man responsible for Jude's turning, Ludger was sure they could find something. Something that meant his fiancée wouldn't have to worry about having to register and so that Ludger himself wouldn't ever have to hunt Jude if he snapped.

**Author's Note:**

> Okay, so just a quick rundown on stuff here. If you have a question that isn't covered here just head over to my writing blog ( [here](http://dreamerdarkrequiem.tumblr.com/) )and I'll help you out~  
> 1) The Ancients are basically the 'full' vampires or 'pure' ones. All the other vampires used to be human. Ancients have abilities and powers that all other vampires can only ever dream of having.  
> 2) 'Turning' is basically just becoming a vampire. Those who're bit and drained of almost all blood usually die, but sometimes they turn. Jude here falls into the latter category.  
> 3) Only Ancients burn in the sun: All the rest are weakened and are sleepy when under sunlight.  
> 4) There's a registry for vampires. It's so that if a vampire 'snaps' and goes on a bloody rampage hunters from Spirius can hunt them down and stop them from causing trouble. Unfortunately, not all vampires are on the registry: Elize and Alvin, the two targets from Ludger's hunt, fall under this along with Jude.  
> 5) Okay so about the tomato juice....It was really because I wanted to reference Rune Factory: Frontier, which has a vampire girl who likes tomato juice. It just ended up being really convenient....


End file.
